Sulfasalazine release from different pectin gel beads in physiological simulated fluids

COSTAS, LUCIANA; PERA, LICIA MARíA; CASTRO, GUILLERMO RAúL

Trivandrum

Congreso; New horizons in biotechnology (NHBT); 2011

New horizons in biotechnology (NHBT)

Pectins are naturally occurring biodegradable polysaccharides consisting of linear chain of 1-4 linked á-D-galacturonic acid residues with varying degrees of methyl ester substituents, low methyl ester pectin (LM) and high methyl ester pectin (HM). There has been recent interest in the use of pectin gels in controlled drug delivery. This is in part due their long standing reputation of being non-toxic (GRAS), their relatively low production costs and high availability. Sulfasalazine (SLZ) is a synthetic nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug used mainly for the treatment of an inflammatory bowel. In addition, it has also been used to treat effectively other diseases of a presumably autoimmune nature such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis and psoriasis. In this study, the effect of different pectins upon the characteristics of pectinate microparticles prepared by ionotropic gelation technique for simulated gastrointestinal tract fluid delivery of sulfasalazine was investigated. The encapsulation efficiency was found to be around of 99 % in all formulations tested. Different release profiles were observed. The percentage of drug release using a mixture of LM and HM pectins after 255 min in simulated gastric fluid (pH=1.2), simulated intestinal fluid (pH=6.8) and phosphate buffer (pH=7.4) were 14.97 %, 47.04 % and 52.23 %, respectively.